Wizard Barristers Ep. 6: Even lawyers have to deal with fanservice

Oh look, a Mezzo Forte cameo.

Episode summary: Cecil gets yelled at for incurring fines through her constant use of magic. On her day off, she stumbles upon a hostage situation, and gets taken as a hostage herself. In the end, our heroine is allowed to use her magic in order to save the day. Meanwhile, we learn that the bad guys are still cooking up elaborate plans to awaken Cecil’s latent powers. I swear, some people just have too much time on their hands….

Thoughts:

• Looks like it’s Wizard Barrister‘s turn to skimp on the animation budget:

Honestly, I would truly prefer it if the well-animated episodes all took a tiny hit in quality if it meant I wouldn’t have to deal with this jarring experience of suddenly seeing lopsided faces.

• Koromo: “Yeah, I know you’re sexually frustrated, since you aren’t getting any, but…” Haven’t we all met this sort of person in real life? The guy or girl who has to make everything about sex? Yeah… Personally, I think it would be funny as hell if someone in the office suddenly took Koromo to court for sexual harassment, but it’s too bad the anime thinks the sexual harassment itself is funny. I mean, Natsuna recognizes that it’s sexual harassment but… I guess she just doesn’t have the gumption to take it any further than verbally reprimanding her coworker.

• Natsuna has a point though: you’re not much of a lawyer if you’re just going to default to your magical powers in every single situation. Hey, we even talked about this last week with regards to Kiri-jii! But ultimately, it doesn’t matter if Natsuna actually has a point or not. You just know that by the end of the episode, Cecil will get her way.

• So what’s exactly is the point of the familiars? Is that frog only around just so that Cecil doesn’t have to talk to herself and come across like a nutjob? Actually, yeah, it does seem like this is his only purpose. He’s basically her inner thoughts, especially when he goes, “Tsunomi is rather pushy, bon,” right after Cecil’s coworker insisted that they hang out. But then you might naturally ask, “If he serves as her inner voice, why does the frog molest her from time to time?” ‘Cause anime’s gotta anime, man.

• Watching that computer-generated dragon thing fly around made me feel as though I’m watching some crappy Saturday morning cartoon:

Don’t get me wrong, I think Wizard Barristers‘ action scenes are surprisingly good, but the 3-D stuff just really doesn’t gel with the rest of the show’s anime aesthetics.

• I like how Quinn casually lights up a cigarette in the middle of an urgent situation. Hey, I’m just sayin’… cigarettes are bad for your health, especially for someone with such an action-packed career like Quinn.

• It’s sort of interesting to see what the rest of the cast are doing on their free day. Anime in general needs more of these “show” moments to flesh out its characters without bludgeoning its audience with pointless exposition.

• So the hostage-takers tie-up Nana Genie’s arms, but not Cecil’s. Well obviously, if they were geniuses, they wouldn’t have to resort to terrorism.

• I already don’t like where this episode is going. Remember how everyone yelled at Cecil for always relying on her magic to get herself out of sticky situations? Well, she’s in a sticky situation now. Not only that, children are in danger! Gosh, if only she could use her magic… my point is that I’m afraid this week’s episode’s only purpose is to vindicate Cecil, proving once again that she’s never, ever, ever wrong.

• The terrorists’ aims? To make a terrible anime! Sekai seifuku!

• Yeah, terrorists will break out into a speech about the nature of good and evil if you so much as ask them a question. Happens all the time.

• Yo, this episode is pretty dumb. It feels like an excuse to make Cecil cosplay just so we can see how a 17 year old girl’s “got it where it counts.” Thanks to this week’s shoddy animation, however, she just ends up looking odd.

• There isn’t even a point in asking why the terrorists would allow Cecil to play dress-up. I mean, just look at them. They’re self-admittedly evil terrorists. Not only that, they’re proud of it too. So obviously, this is one of those jokey fluff episodes. It’s just too bad that it isn’t funny. Hell, it could’ve at least been titillating despite Cecil’s age, but it’s not even that. I could at least respect the anime for getting one thing right, even if that one thing is something I don’t particularly care for. Unfortunately for Wizard Barristers, however, that outfit she’s got on is just plain ugly and the fanservice is nothing the average anime fan hasn’t seen a billion times before.

• Then the anime cuts back to Shizumu and Quinn, and they are both dead serious about the situation at hand. So all in all, a rather schizophrenic tone for the episode. I’m not laughing, but I’m also not exactly at the edge of my seat either since I know everything will be resolved by the end of the episode.

• I’m not sure why Quinn is now suspicious of Shizumu’s concern for Cecil’s safety. Yes, I know the dude’s shady and that the characters should be suspicious of him, but it doesn’t make sense to suddenly be wary of the guy now. You mean a cop is concerned about the safety of a bunch of hostages? No way!

• So in the end, one of the kids gets carried off by the terrorists, so Cecil is allowed to use her magic after all. Well, she’s not just allowed to use her magic; she’s the only one who can save the day! So what did she learn? Absolutely nothing. You can’t yell at her, Seseri! It was for the children’s sake. Won’t anybody please think of the children! Aaaah, this show is so transparent.

• All of a sudden, it feels like I’m watching Power Rangers. Megazoid, activate!

• Just look at all the damage being done to the city though. Plus, Cecil drew metal from practically everything within a mile radius in order to summon her magical robot. This included ripping apart cop cars too. So… who’s going to pay for all of this? No wonder everyone hates Wuds. The insurance rate in Wizard Barristers must be through the roof.

• On the bright side, one of the episode’s messages is that the kids will see magic users as awesome and cool, and therefore the newer generation will not be as oppressive and discriminatory as their parents’ generation.

3 thoughts on “Wizard Barristers Ep. 6: Even lawyers have to deal with fanservice”

Man, if there ever was fluff that fluffed, it fluffed no harder than this.
“‘Cause anime’s gotta anime, man.” haha Nice

I will admit that the episode had a couple of moments, but yeah, the fact that this anime repeatedly tries to set up scenarios where Cecil “learns something” but ultimately she doesn’t is getting on my nerves.
“You can’t just keep moving! Slow down to observe the case’s clues!” -Later That Episode- “We wasted time. Better magic it up.”
“You can’t discriminate between clients!” -Later That Episode- “He was evil, you were right.”
“You can’t just use magic all the time!” -Later That Episode- “No, totally use it.”

It’s become apparent that Cecil is genuinely a Mary Sue now and that this show will never have her learn anything but more magic. Maybe, just maybe, at some point the half-intelligent one who yells at her will say something poignant and die, thus prompting character development at “gotta go fast” speeds. That, or their place will dramatically blow up. I’m just saying I don’t see Cecil actually growing to be a good barrister/mage without some contrivance.

All that aside, have we actually had a case where the magic is put to use like a real criminal investigation? You know, like where someone is on trial for setting some guy on fire, but the evidence says it was someone making it look like magic all along? Maybe the ashes of the magical fire are different from the ashes of regular fire, or there was no residue from teleportation or something. I just mean that, since we’re working with magic, has there been a case where the details of how magic works in comparison to normal physics has come into play?
I can’t recall. I’m still reeling from the mecha-dragon and the slutty power rangers.

At this point, I think we’re just waiting for the real story to unfold, i.e. that book of Wud prophecies that the anime keeps hinting to. It’s like trying to tease someone’s appetite with celery. Yeah, yeah, I see it. So what? Just get on with it already. No offense to celery lovers… you weirdos.

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